Mushroom Ridge
by James Virtus
Summary: When massive monsters attack the coastal areas of the Mushroom World the inhabitants must deal with this new threat in the only sane way possible. Giant Robots, by which I mean Jaegers. Includes a healthy dose of: Politics, Romance, and Face Punching action of all sizes!
1. Ch 1 Vacation on hold due to Kaiju

It was a quiet peaceful day in the mushroom kingdom. In fact it was quiet throughout all the lands and worlds that were connected by the Pipe Maze. Unusually quiet, not a plot was in progress, not a thing threatened reality. Which really should have been a warning. But such was they way of things.

Mario was standing barefoot in the sands of Sirena Beach the sun was bright as it had ever been. Sometimes Mario regretted the drive that had motivated him to recollect all the shine sprites. But there was something about it that made for a great vacation spot, except that the sun in his eyes kept him from seeing the volleyball that had been launched his way.

Mario closed his eye, listening for the faint sound of the ball falling through the air. He heard it just barely over the sound of the waves. He jumped as high as he could, 25 feet into the air, the ball was just within reach. The islanders had arms like cannons. He punched the ball back down to the ground on the other side of the net. Blue flames wreathed the volleyball, it slammed into the sand, leaving a crater where it first landed, it bounced back and fell down a few more times before coming to a stop.

The match came to a halt as two other islanders came out onto the sand to clean up the little glass particles made by the impact. It would take a few minutes, so both teams left the court to rest under the shade of umbrellas.

Mario sat down in the beach chair next to Peach. She had been sunning herself earlier in the day but was now escaping from the suns rays.

"You really should go easier on them Mario." She said, not looking up from her book.

"There's only one of me and four of them." He said, his thick Italian accent reflecting his heritage even thought he had spent most of his early life in Brooklyn.

Peach sat up and planted a kiss on Mario's cheek. "My wonderful show off." Her voice hinted at an unspoken giggle. Mario was her knight in shinning armor. She didn't mind his few flaws, being cocky and head strong. She found them perfectly understandable. Here he was super, but back in the normal world he was, well... just normal. It was a miracle that he and his brother had found their way back to the Mushroom kingdom after that first time, so many years ago. They had all just been babies back then. It was only thanks to Toadsworth and the Yosihes that they really knew for sure that it had really happened. Mario and Luigi hadn't remembered it, and she had thought it had just been a dream.

Peach had never known any other life but the Mushroom kingdom, though she had once gone with the brother to earth, and hearing the stories they told at times made her glad of this. Maybe it was escapism, but the stories they had told as their time as soldiers gave her nightmares. She would take Bowser over bombs and guns any day.

"Peach, Peach." Mario was saying.

"Oh, sorry. I was thinking about things?"

"Like?"

"Like how I was going to school you in the next match."

"Anytime Princess." Mario said with a slight bow and goofy grin that made Peach laugh.

That was when everything went to hell. Sirens blared their warning sound, the sea had quickly gone out and was now rushing in at rapid speed in a wall over fifty feet tall. Mario grabbed Peach and carried her in his arms, he was pouring on all the speed he could barefoot in the sand. When it felt like he could run no faster he leaped into the air. He soared up and up, not his best jump but it would do. It was distance that mattered. When they reached the height of the jumps arc Peach pulled out her parasol and they glided onto the roof of the hotel.

Even that wasn't far enough or high enough. Not even fast enough. The second Mario's feet hit the rooftop the water was upon them. It was at his waist and it knocked him over it came in so fast. He felt the water pulling Peach from his grasp. They went tumbling across the titled roof top, Mario reached out and managed to grabbed hold of Peach's hand. The water stopped, Peach was over the edge, Mario hanging from the side of the building. The water slowly receded a bit the initial swell over.

Mario pulled Peach up, lifting her above him, onto the roof. Only then did he pull himself up onto the roof. The water was a mess of floating debris. The water had ripped up the wooden huts and kicked up the sand. A little palm tree bobbed up above the water. It was the top of one of the islanders head. There was no movement.

Peach fell to her knees. She couldn't believe it. There had been no warning, no signs of a storm. Even now the weather was perfect. Save for the flood, the bodies floating face down in the water. It had come out of no where and had killed so many. There could be no other survivors. Not here anyway. Maybe farther along the coast, but here at the little island retreat hidden between the canyon walls it was just her and Mario. She was no stranger to death, it was part of life. But she had never experienced such an event of mass destruction in her life.

Slowly the water receded to its normal level, what ever had caused the surging waves was over. Peach barely noticed Mario's hand on her shoulder. He was talking to her, she was in shock she knew this. She struggled to her feet.

"What do we do know?" Her voice shaking like her body.

"We survive, we get home. We help anyone we can."

"...How the boat, it's gone."

"We will find a way. We can head inland, make our way to Bianco Hills, it's the closest place that wouldn't have been hit. From there we find a pipe and hope the maze isn't too flooded.I will get us back to the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Is it right to leave? We can't just abandon all these people here."

"There is nothing we can do now. You can do more as a princess than you can as a tourist."

She knew Mario was right. Boats and humanitarian aid was what was needed, something she could only do as a princess.

It was a long slow climb up the steep mountain side. Peach would have killed for shoes, her feet were raw from rocks and weeds digging into her soles. They stopped at the peak of one of the mountain tops. They could see Rico Harbor from here and that wasn't all they could see. There was a massive monster, over 200 feet tall, in the harbor. The creature was hard to describe, it had four long arms, a head like a shark, and rows of jagged fins down it's back. It's skin was a rubbery gray. It was turning the harbor into so much rubble.

"What is that!" Peach yelled in surprise. It was huge, even Giga Browser or Mega Mario would have been far to small to do any real damage.

Mario had seen the movie Godzilla, the first world that came to his mind was the little Japanese he knew. Kaiju, it was the only word that fit. In English it meant strange beast, but was commonly just said as monster, both fit perfectly.

"That, must have been what caused the tidal wave." Mario said simply.

"Where did it come from?"

"I don't know, I've never seen anything like that anywhere in the worlds connected by the pipes."

"Maybe some kind of Ginormous land?"

"How would it have gotten here? The pipe would have had to been impossibly huge."

"Whats more important is stopping it."

"You would need serious fire power to do that."

"How much."

"More. More than any of the lands in Mushroom world.

"What about BeanBean Kingdom, they have the largest military of our allies."

"Not enough. They have plenty of ground forces, but nothing of the right scale. I have a little experience with bombs," Mario's memories of his time in Vietnam coming back to him. "something that could take out that? Would take say.. 15,000 Bob-ombs."

"That is nearly three times the population of the Bomb kingdom. Even if they were to gather all in one place, and not all of them are young enough to safely recover from exploding."

"This is a threat that the Mushroom World is not capable of dealing with."

"We must ask him." The word tasted like dirt in her mouth. The sheer idea of asking him for anything ran against everything she and her kingdom stood for.

"Right now we just need to get out of here." Mario said, moving on. There was nothing to be done from the mountain tops.

Eventually they arrived at Bianco Hills, it was undamaged due to its location, the surge of water had only raised the river a few feet this fall into the island. It was crowded, those who had survived the waves had retreated here.

Peach couldn't believe how easily the island paradise had come to be such a place. It had been less than a day, the sun was just setting, the nights air seemed far colder than it really was. Normally the nights were warm enough that one would be just fine swimming in the sea. She wasn't sure if it was the mood of the people surrounding her or a change in the weather brought on by the displacement of so much water.

Mario returned, he had gone off to scavenge up shoes and warmer clothing. It was always cold down in the maze.

He handed her a blue robe and a pair of boots. She slipped the robe on, it reached down just below her waist, it was far better than the swimsuit she had been running about in. The boots were a bit snug but they fit. She knew she looked a sight wearing brown boots, a pink bikini bottom, and a blue robe that was far to small but she didn't care all that much. There were more important things.

"Where did you get this stuff?" She asked.

"Two magikoopas were scamming some of the islanders."

"Ah." It made her feel better to know that no innocents would be missing their clothes. With all the refuges in need such things were not in excess.

Mario started off, heading to a pipe that he remembered from his first adventure here. Peach followed after him. She was worried about Mario. He was always a man of a few words, but his demeanor was not that of his normal day to day. Mario was warm and had a smile in his eyes, now he seemed cold and distant. Peace wondered how she looked compared to her normal self.

She got her answer as she passed a window, her reflection stared back at her. Pale, gaunt, hollow. She was tired and stressed, and covered in dirt from climbing. First thing she would do when she got home, hot bath. Second would be arraigning aid to Isle Delphino. After that...she would call a meeting of the leaders of the worlds.

Mario hopped down the green warp pipe, Peach followed after him. They came out of the pipe in a dark room lit only by a few torches on the wall, making the dark only seem darker and the bricks colder and harder. The Maze was a scary and dangerous place. It was why few used it and those that did used it rarely. Of those few that did, none knew the pipes like Mario and Luigi.

When they had arrived by warp pipe back when she had first been kidnapped they had gone down a pipe in a bathtub in Brooklyn but had been unable to find their way home for quiet sometime. After she had been rescued Mario and Luigi had spent months down in the Maze looking for a way home. They had finally found it, only to discover that time moved funny in places like the Mushroom World. In the Mushroom World one had forever, but back on earth years had passed.

It was 1992 and to top it off Bowser and his kin followed the brothers back to earth, he kept trying to take his revenge on the brother. He had tried to melt Antarctica on one occasion.

After beating back Bowser time and again the brother locked off the way to earth and settled down in the Mushroom World. It was their home now, besides the perks were nice. Mario had been 26 years old for as long as he had been in the Mushroom World, slow aging and super powers were just minor reasons for staying. They had fallen in love with the world and Mario with the Princess.

Mario flipped switches and turned valves. Rerouting a pipeline to the castle. His hands flew like a master pianist behind a piano. It was more an art than a science he did.

Peach all the while watched, she had seen this all before, and still she was amazed by it. There were no signs, no markings, the only way to go was by feel and gut. She had tried to learn the magic of the pipes before but found she didn't have the gift.

A piranha plant sprung out of a pressure release valve. It snapped at Mario's nose, he dodged back, his hand lashed out. He punched it where it's eyes were, stunning it, then he ripped it out from the pipe and dropped it on the ground. Stomping it underfoot twice, then grinding it up under the heel of his shoes. Such things didn't even phase him anymore, he remembered back when he first saw them and their gnashing teeth he had been too afraid to get close. Then one day, the time Bowser had trapped everyone within the walls of the castle, he had simply dived for the roots of one when it snapped at him. As long as you avoid the teeth they go down easy he had leaned. Though considering how much of their body was a maw full of sharp teeth it was easier said than done.

"Ready to go?"

Peach had been ready a long time ago, she didn't like the way the shadows crept and things whispered in the maze. The only thing really known about the maze was that it wasn't really underground, at least not under the ground of the Mushroom world. In her castle was a small pool of a strange black metallic liquid. It was the magic that made the pipes work as far as anyone could tell. So when a warp pipe was active there would be some of the substance in the pipe and going into it would send you along your way to the other end of the stuff. Which was why Mario had been changing the flow of various pipes. It was hard to describe, but it was like the Pipe Maze was like a world between everything. She had once had the floor pulled up around the pool of the stuff in the castle and found out that there was indeed no hole below it. It was just a puddle sitting there, and yet it was somehow connected to the pipes.

Then one day Luigi discovered that just thinking about the Pipe Maze while going through a warp pipe would send you into the Maze no matter where the pipe normal went. Which was a godsend for traveling.

They popped out of the pipe into the courtyard of the castle. Peach felt faint, like her body had simply stopped trying now that she was home. She wobbled on her feet, crashing into Mario's side. He caught her in his arms. She half limped, half was carried inside.


	2. Ch 2 All in the war room

The Next Morning.

Peach had fallen asleep after her hot bath, but now she was awake and not like the walking dead. The sun was just coming up on a new day. She threw off the covers of her bed, feet sinking into the plush carpet. Mario laid on the couch across the room. She had insisted that he stay, it was a fair distance to his house and it had been late, and they tired. He gave in but insisted on the couch. Always the gentleman, Peach giggled at his behavior. She crossed over to the couch and kissed Mario on the forehead. She also just felt safer with him around and yesterday left her feeling the need for reassurance. Something she hadn't needed to voice.

The memory of just three days before played through her mind, it had been why they took a vacation to the Mario had talked her into going out for a midnight picnic on the border of BeanBean kingdom to watch the falling stars. There under the lights of the night he had asked her to dance. Then, then he had gotten down on his knees after the dance. A ring of gold and diamond in his hands.

She had said yes without hesitation. She had been waiting for it for so long. She knew that that moment ha come close before, but something had always gotten in the way.

The engagement ring felt right on her hand. Warm with a slight heaviness to it. But a good heaviness, like a coat in a winter storm.

She wished to linger longer, to start planning the wedding of her dreams, but now was not the time. Now was the time to be the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. She could be Peach Toadstool when people were safe.

She crossed over to her massive walk in closet. Slipping out of her silk nightgown she though of all that had happened since the brothers had returned that one fateful day. Due to how time flowed differently and people aged slower in the Mushroom world she had been only 18 when she had been kidnapped by Bowser, Mario and Luigi had aged a bit more on earth. Funny as according to the Yoshis she was a year older originally. She was ready to stop being a princess. It was time to be a queen. The question was how to reflect this. A less girlish color would work, but she liked pink and purple was off the table forever. She deiced a little red would work, it would work very well she thought with a smile. Red panniers a ruby brooch, ruby earrings replaced their normal counterparts. She look in the floor length mirror, pleased with the look. Still very much her, but a little more mature looking. No longer the scared girl that had been taken captive.

She exited her bedroom coming across Toadsworth who had been hobbling along to come wake her as he always did.

"Good morning Princess, you are up bright and early this morning." He said between huffs, leaning on his cane. Everyone aged slowly and Humans stopped aging altogether around 30, but toads kept aging. Professor E. Gadd theorized that this was due to the fact that toads were indigenous to the land while humans came from a different reality. In short reality stopped functioning on them over time. It did explain a number of things and there were no better answers. Toadsworth, the oldest living toad, who had been just a young toad when he had been charged with Peach's care, was coming near to his last days.

"Good morning Toadsworth. I told you you no longer need to wake me every day. You need to take it easy. Have one of the younger Toads do what you wish be done."

"The whippersnappers, while eager to work, are far to young to get anything right without proper oversight."

Peach said nothing, knowing that it was partly true, she listened as he went on and on. The Toads made up for it with willingness she though. But yes, most of them were very young and very inexperienced. The war that had been waged on her people before the brothers arrived had been costly. As Toadsworth finished she spoke up. "Toadsworth. See to Master Mario when he wakes up." She gestured to the closed door behind her.

"PRINCESS!" Toadsworth was shocked.

"Don't princess me. I'm a grown woman, I can make my own choices." Peach said calmly and coolly.

"...Very well Princess." It was clear that Toadsworth was shocked at being told anything, he was used to either being listened to or just ignored by the Princess. But he knew deep down that she was right. She was a grown woman, Master Mario a fine upstanding gentleman, and he was growing old. Times were clearly changing.

Peach could easily read the thoughts playing across his face. "Nothing happened. Mario was a perfect gentleman like always."

It was now Toadsworth's turn to be quite. He knew that this was a sign, that he was no longer needed. The Princess was her own woman now. She didn't need some bumbling old fart advising her, and certainly not telling her what to do.

"Toadsworth, your council and friendship has and always will be important to me."

Toadsworth cheered up quickly at hearing that. "I shall continue to serve as best I can Princess."

Peach continued on through the halls of the castle to her throne. There waited for her Toadette with a tray of food.

"Good Morning Princess. What can I do for you this morning?"

"Fetch the Royal messengers and a stack of stationary for a letter to each of the rulers of Pipe Maze Coalition."

"As you wish." She said with a bow, leaving the tray on a table next to the throne.

24 hours later each of the 90 leaders of the PMC, save one, had gathered in the council room of Peach's castle.

"Now that we are gathered here, will you be telling us what this is about princess?" Started

Prince Peasly of the BeanBean Kingdom.

Peach shook her head. "We are waiting for one more."

There was a mass gasp from a number of the members assembled. Only Wario the dictator of WarioWorld, and Mario who had once been elected president for life of a little island that now went by the name of Mario Land, were not taken aback. Either due to not being surprised or simply not caring no one could say.

That was when the brutal dictator of hell, the King of the Koopas, lord of destruction, Bowser walked in with a convoy of six goombas, four paratroopas, and two Bomb-ombs.

"Someone call for the biggest baddest baddie to ever terrorize the pipes?" He roared, gouts of flame appearing with every breath he took.

"Second." Peach idly said from her seat, as cool as could be.

"...What?"

"The second biggest, second baddest. It is why I have called all of you here today. As some of you may know Isle Delphino an unaffiliated island in the center of the ocean of Mushroom world, just off the coast of Jewelry Land in fact."

King Fret nodded, he was one of the only ones there who knew what this was about. They had lost contact with the island and reports of a massive monster had been coming in since and it looked like the creature was headed their way

Bowser scowled, no one was a badder baddie than he was. He considered trying to inact the last minute plan he had came up with, but there sat Mario, a fire flower sitting in a pot next to him and his massive golden hammer leaning up against his chair, just within arms reach. Now was not the time, besides the tiny reptile part of his brain told him he should listen.

Peach continued. "A monster of unknown origin has appeared, and is currently making it's way to the closest land mass to Isle Delfino. We have no word on the state of the Isle, only that last eyes on it had the creature wrecking massive havoc, and mass flooding occurring."

Prince Peasly spoke up then. "I fail to see how this is of any concern to the BeanBean Kingdom."

Peach tried not to let her disgust show. Peasly was just as bad as Bowser, just less threatening. She had come to terms long ago that when she had been first kidnapped by Bowser it was logical for so many to go their own way. Form their own kingdoms. There was little loyalty in any of them. Her father had ruled the world and half the pipes. Now she had her little kingdom.

Would they help someone in a time of need or go their own way, only for it to come back and screw them over later. She had no doubt that this creature was a threat to all, but would they see that.

"So there's some little monster running around that has your highness in a huff." Grunted Bowser, now seated in his chair.

"If by little you mean over 200 feet tall."

There was a riot of panic and noise as the rulers broke into panic. Bowser's jaw hit the floor. The tallest he had been when he had been using the power of all the power stars was 50 feet tall. He would be crushed like a bug. He felt a lot more... willing to work with them now. He couldn't have some over grown second rater crowding his turf.

Peach asked for order in the court. "Quiet please."

None listened, their ruckus continuing. Mario lifted his hammer off the ground, it wasn't really gold, it was a much sturdier but just as heavy metal that was found in Dinoland. He dropped it, letting the hammers head slam into the floor with a overpowering crashing noise. There was sudden silence as all turned to look at the source of the noise. Then they all kept turning upon seeing Mario, they turned their focus back onto Princess Peach.

"Now as I was saying, this monstrous threat is simply too large and too powerful for any one of us to face. Which means that the only way we can over come this threat is too band together and stop this from becoming a much worse problem."

Admiral **Bobbery**, the acting representative of Free Bomb-omb land while the special elections were held, spoke up at this. "Aye we have two choices, throw all in or get smashed separately. I for one am for the former. So I'm throwing in with those who have never done me or mine a wrong turn, I don't know about the rest of you sorry half-lits."

General White's death had caused quiet the upheaval and an increase in the fighting between the Free Bomb-ombs and the ones loyal to King Bomb-omb who was a lackey of Bowser's. The Bomb-omb buddies (Those who were still loyal to the Mushroom Kingdom) had long ago thrown in with the Free Bomb-ombs with Peach's blessing. **Bobbery**was a crafty old seadog and a staunch loyalist. Anyone who knew him that he had voiced his two coins for a reason. Though not all of them might have none what reasons. They were simple, he was loyal to his friends and allies and he had a knack for coming out smelling like roses out of anything. What he now saw in this situation was a way to stop the fighting in Bomb-omb land long enough for his people to recover and maybe, just maybe pull a fast one that would change the course of their history.

Peach smiled at this, she had little doubt about the schemes already filling the old bombs head. She had counted on it really. She could see each little metaphorical cog turning behind each eye of the representatives. Wario's eyes were ever spinning dollar signs, which was not metaphorical and was very literal. Mario was the only one who didn't seem to be thinking on something. Which would be wrong, Mario had a masterful poker face. It was just that he wasn't thinking up any schemes, Peach could tell that from the slight line of drool that was dangling from his lower lip. It also helped that if you knew Mario, you knew there wasn't an evil bone in his body and that he didn't so much as plan as respond intelligently.

Slowly each of the representatives of the major powers pledged their forces to the cause of taking out the monster. Though only a few had said anything about helping the people of Delfino Isle. Just Daisy, Mario, and King Fret. Understandable of course. Daisy was a good person. Mario was as well but he had almost no political power and he made sure to keep it that way, which the people of Mario land also enjoyed. As they were mostly left to their own devices and Mario only intervened to protect the people and the land. King Fret? Well he was almost as greedy as Wario, it took a special kind to create a cursed magic black gemstone just in case someone ever stole from him. More than likely Fret was planning on making a move on the island.

There was only one who had yet to say anything. Bowser of course. He had spent the entire meeting quietly grumbling. Peach batted her eyes at him "So Bowser, I take it you are too afraid of zzsomeone worse than you and are too scared to play with the big boys?"

Bowser roared, a jet of flame leaving scorch marks on the ceiling. "THATS KING BOWSER TO YOU!" He stood, raising his fist into the air. "I'll put the power into this powder keg of an army, just to show you all how it is done."

Peach just smiled, there had never been any doubt.

"And so we go to war." Said Mario.


End file.
